The present invention relates to a finisher operable with an image forming apparatus for discharging paper sheets coming out of the apparatus and each carrying an image thereon to a plurality of bins while sorting the paper sheets and, if desired, packaging the paper sheets stacked on each bin in an envelope.
An image forming apparatus capable of sorting and discharging paper sheets carrying images thereon to a plurality of bins is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 145069/1986. The apparatus taught in this Laid-Open Publication has means for nipping paper sheets stacked on a bin, and means for inclining the entire bin to cause the paper sheets to slide along the bin into a large size storing section. Assume that the desired number of copies is greater than the number of paper sheets that can be accommodated in a single bin. Then, this type of apparatus can continue the copying operation even when the number of copies produced reaches the capacity of a single bin. Specifically, the apparatus clips the paper sheets on a job basis before the number of copies produced reaches the capacity of each bin and then inclines the bin to transfer the clipped paper sheets to the large size storing section. This frees the operator from troublesome work otherwise required of removing paper sheets filling the bins and then starting the apparatus again. However, such a conventional apparatus cannot meet an increasing demand for a capability of automatically packaging the copies in envelopes.